Why Building a Community Matters in Web3

We all need community. Whether it's to prepare for a storm, raise a child, or build a business - every aspect of our lives revolves around community. The story is the same in our personal lives and business - community matters, and supporting and rewarding those who support us, also matters. 

As Web3 starts to take shape, we need to consider that communities will become just as prevalent online as in the real world. The friendships we forge online will be equally as important as those we make in person. If we reward loyal customers with appreciation brunches and gifts at events, we must also consider ways to reward them online. 

How can brands keep their online community engaged while growing new customers? At Award Pool, we help in four ways:

• Giving them a reason to come back
• Inviting their friends to join
• Giving them a platform to share
• Rewarding them for all they do

A reason to come back: 

Award Pool Challenges are not a one-off. You may come to Award Pool to create a campaign around a specific goal, such as a contest that needs promoting or the launch of a new product, but that doesn't mean the campaign ends there. The Award Pool widget sits as an iframe on your website. So don't think of it as a one-time banner ad but as an ongoing marketing engagement tool. 

You can update challenges weekly or monthly, giving your community a reason to come back, interact with your brand, and try new things. Each time your brand creates something new, has an announcement, wins a tournament, makes a new hire, attends a conference - you can create challenges around it. Give your community a reason to come back - often. 

Inviting their friends: 

The best way to create an authentic community is to have your existing user base refer their friends and colleagues to join. You can encourage users to invite their friends simply by awarding them points for completing the "invite a friend" action. However, we recommend taking it a step farther and including actions in your challenge that people want their friends to join. Maybe that's an in-game competition such as X amount of kills in Fortnite, or an Instagram share of a specific action such as "Wearing my team jersey at …": Create actions that encourage sharing with friends - that's how communities grow. 

A platform to share:

To authentically let your community be involved, let them share their opinions! We offer surveys and Q&A actions within our challenges if specific feedback is what you are looking for - which flavour did you like best, what kind of concert you would like to attend, etc. However, if you really want to know what your community is thinking, create channels for them to share - a Discord group, a Reddit group, a Telegram channel. Let your community tell you what they want and don't forget to award them for joining.

Rewarding your community: 

You've given them reasons to visit often, invite their friends and share their opinions, but now you need to figure out how to reward them. Award Pool has a complete NFT platform, where you can offer NFT rewards to community members who complete challenges. NFTs can represent any unique digital asset, including art, videos, trading cards, downloads, games and game assets, tickets, and music. 

Encourage your community to collect, purchase, trade, and share their NFT. At that point, you aren't just engaging and growing your community; you are also giving them a sense of ownership in your brand, and nothing says community more than feeling involved in the organizations which you support.